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"Be the person your dog thinks you are." ~Unknown.We welcome comments. Supportive feedback is what we enjoy most, but tips for improvement are valued too. It’s not required that you agree with us, only that you express your opinion civilly. Comments are moderated and will be posted following review. Read more.

SB 872 was engrossed by the Senate on second reading today, and it may receive a vote on the Senate floor tomorrow. SB 28 was reported by the Senate Finance Committee this morning on a vote of 11-Y, 5-N. If this bill’s first reading is on the legislative agenda tomorrow, it may be voted on as soon as Friday.

Fritz lived his life on the end of a chain until he was rescued by our Board Member Lee Anne Holdren.

SB 872Current state law does not prevent dogs from spending their lives at the end of a chain. Senator Lionel Spruill is the patron of SB 872, which aims to provide protections to dogs who are tethered or chained outdoors. The bill defines certain harsh weather conditions under which an animal may not legally be tethered and provides basic standards for length, weight and type of tether. This is incremental progress that is desperately needed to give protections to neglected tethered dogs across the Commonwealth.

Senate co-patrons for SB 872 are Spruill, Dance, DeSteph, Ebbin, Mason, McClellan, Reeves, Stanley, Wagner and Wexton. If you live in these senators’ districts, please thank them for adding their names to this legislation.

SB 28Senators Glen Sturtevant and Bill Stanley were motivated by disturbing reports of painful cardiac experiments being performed on dogs at the McGuire VA Medical Center to introduce SB 28. Taxpayer dollars should not be used to carry out painful, medically unnecessary research on dogs and cats. By prohibiting state general funds from being used for such studies, the senators are making an important statement about the values of the Commonwealth in protecting the lives of companion animals.

Senators Black and Ebbin have also joined as co-patrons of SB 28. Please thank these senators, if you are their constituents.

Tabitha Frizzell Treloar is the director of communications for the Richmond SPCA. To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

January 25, 2018

Editor’s note:Delegate John Bell has introduced HB 646 in the Virginia House of Delegates. This bill would prohibit tethering or chaining a dog during the most extreme conditions including temperatures below freezing or above 85 degrees and during heat advisories and severe weather alerts. Today’s guest blog is from Board member Lee Anne Holdren.

Although as a member of the Board of Directors of the Richmond SPCA, I have many reasons to ask my delegate to vote yes on HB 646, the strongest reason is a personal one. His name was Fritz.

Fritz was 12 years old when I first met him. He was a beagle mix who belonged to our next-door neighbor. To my dismay, I realized soon after we moved into the neighborhood that Fritz was chained day and night to a short zip line attached to two trees in their backyard. Despite being close to grass, he was unable to reach it; his only shelter was a crawl space underneath a storage shed. On more than one occasion, branches fell from above and became entangled in his chain, terrifying him. On snowy days, he paced until he had a bare spot in which to sit; on frigid days he stretched his chain as far as it would go to find a tiny, fleeting spot of sunlight.

This was Fritz’s life for several years; we regularly went into the yard to untangle his chain, make sure he had food and unfrozen water, or shovel snow so he could sit down. On more than one occasion, we simply took him into our heated garage without permission. When the situation became intolerable, we involved our county’s animal control. However, the officer who visited Fritz viewed his living conditions as adequate under Virginia code and therefore would neither seize him nor compel his owners to provide him better protection from the freezing temperatures.

Tethering a dog alone, outside is not only inhumane in and of itself; it is also frequently associated with other forms of neglect. Fritz had never had regular veterinary care; he had painful dental decay that later required several extractions, and he had probably never had a real bath.

In May of 2013, our neighbors tired of my constant pleading and let us take Fritz. Despite years of neglect, he was amazingly responsive, and he quickly became a treasured member of our household. Fritz’s sunset years were filled with grass, warmth, regular health care and his own doggie pool; he even walked in the 2014 Richmond SPCA Dog Jog. But the happy ending does not erase the fact that Fritz spent his first 12 years enduring conditions that ranged from substandard to horrific. We can prevent other pets living this life by taking this simple step. In memory of Fritz, I urge ALL delegates to vote YES on this bill.

HB 646 has been assigned to the House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources – Subcommittee #1. It is likely this bill will be on the subcommittee's agenda fro Monday, January 29, 2018. It is urgent for the delegates on this committee to hear from their constituents. Whether you call or email, please let the delegate know that you are a constituent by including your home address and simply ask that he or she support HB 646 to prohibit tethering animals in extreme conditions. Find out who your legislator is by visiting whosmy.virginiageneralassembly.gov/.

June 15, 2017

In my work at The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), I am always thinking about leadership and initiative, and what they mean in the life of an organization. The HSUS’s four founders took a big risk in 1954, borrowing off of their life insurance policies to form a new kind of animal protection society, based on their view that a renewal of leadership and initiative was needed in humane work. They sought to create a truly national organization, with a mass membership, that worked on the big picture animal protection issues on which local societies could not afford to focus. At the same time, they sought to build strong partnerships with local societies, working closely to advance local, statewide and national priorities. Lastly, they were pragmatic, determined to drive as much reform as was possible, without compromising their core values. They were interested in progress, not perfection.

By 1963, two of the four original founders of The HSUS had moved on, and its principal leader in thought, Fred Myers, had passed away. Built for the long term, however, the organization continued to grow, to thrive and to extend its mission, with new leaders and new personnel filling the void. They struggled at times, but working in true collaboration with local societies, they secured remarkable early gains, including the passage of the Humane Slaughter Act in 1958 and the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act in 1966, and in subsequent generations, we’ve continued to carry the fight for animals into every quarter.

Wayne Pacelle joins Robin Starr, who is holding Lottie Dula, on the set of Virginia This Morning in 2011 for an interview with Cheryl Miller and Jessica Noll about the publication of his book "The Bond."

The history of the Richmond SPCA is not so different than that of The HSUS; it too has seen its highs and lows, lost good leaders, survived in lean times, but persisted, endured and flourished. Today, we at The HSUS consider it one of our greatest partners in humane work. So much of that has to do with the leadership and initiative of Robin Robertson Starr, who has been a true mainspring of the Richmond SPCA over the last two decades.

It would be difficult to overestimate Robin’s impact on the evolution of the Richmond SPCA and on animal welfare in the communities it serves. She led successful fundraising efforts to build a new headquarters and a new veterinary hospital. She helped to bring the society’s live-release rate to nearly 99 percent. And the Richmond SPCA's animal hospital, humane education programs, pet behavior and retention programs, and shelter transfer program have become the gold standard in animal sheltering, setting a standard for progressive shelter work for communities not just in Virginia but across the country.

During a joint rescue effort in 2009, Richmond SPCA animal care technician Sheon Mallory takes a puppy into her arms who has just arrived on the HSUS Emergency Services transport vehicle.

Richmond SPCA is a good neighbor and partner to sister societies all across the country. Its transfer program, in which animals move from shelters elsewhere in Virginia where they are at risk of euthanasia or unlikely to be adopted, are brought to Richmond for treatment and adoption, a win-win for all parties and producing lifesaving outcomes. Richmond SPCA has also accepted animals rescued by HSUS emergency responders countless times. Dogs rescued from the meat trade in South Korea, saved from hurricanes and tornadoes and other natural disasters, and freed from the fighting ring and the suffocating cruelty of puppy mills have all found loving homes thanks to the joint efforts of The HSUS and Richmond SPCA.

While Robin has done her utmost to strengthen and transform the sheltering work of the society she leads, she has also understood that the needs of animal welfare go far beyond the brick walls of the Richmond SPCA. She has championed animal protection through the legislative process, advocating tirelessly to make animal fighting a felony, to make animal cruelty a felony, to shut down puppy mills in Virginia, to prohibit the sale of dogs in parking lots and on roadsides, to bring an end to the cruel practice of fox penning, and to protect exotic animals being kept as pets and in roadside zoos. In Richmond, she's advanced ordinances to free dogs living their lives at the end of chains and to protect elephants in circuses from the cruelty of the bull-hook. These efforts help to account for the fact that Virginia is ranked fourth in the nation for humane laws and regulations by The HSUS.

Anyone who founds an organization designed to do good in the world does so with the hope and faith that others will come along to nurture and strengthen it, and the Richmond SPCA is no different. More than 125 years ago, concerned citizens in the city came together to establish a new and visionary force, whose existence would bring great benefits to animals and to those who care for and about them. The human lifespan being what it is, none of those good people lived long enough to see what the Richmond SPCA under Robin Starr has become. But I am confident that they would recognize the organization they founded, and find in her a kindred spirit, who has continued to provide the leadership and initiative they intended, and who shows no sign of letting up. It takes no imagination of creativity to acknowledge Robin’s tremendous achievements on the occasion of her twentieth anniversary with the Richmond SPCA, and it’s an honor to have worked so closely with her during so much of that time. She’s a special person, a friend and a compatriot in our shared cause. We are all fortunate to have the benefit of her enlightened leadership and drive.

To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

January 27, 2017

On Twitter this afternoon, A. Barton Hinkle of the Richmond Times-Dispatch exposed the outcome of an unrecorded vote of the Virginia House of Delegates' House Agriculture Subcommittee to kill a bill that would have relieved the suffering a great many chained dogs in Virginia. This same subcommittee has killed numerous bills over the years that sought to eliminate or limit chaining of dogs. As Hinkle references in a tweet, their discussion of the issue reflected their lack of understanding of the well-documented effects of chaining on dog behavior and health along with the great risks that chained dogs pose to public safety.

Earlier this week a House of Delegates subcommittee killed, on an unrecorded vote, a bill to limit the tethering of animals in Virginia. /1

Delegate John Bell, who introduced HB 1802 shared a video of the subcommittee's proceedings, which does a great service by shining light on a meeting that is attended by very few citizens.

To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

January 17, 2017

Virginia Senator Bill Stanley has introduced SB 801 in memory of Molly, a dog whose life was taken needlessly in the Galax-Carroll-Grayson Animal Shelter last year.

Last summer, I wrote a blog post titled “A Needless and Indefensible Death in Carroll County” about a dog whom we and others tried to save but who was put to death for no valid reason by local officials in Galax and Carroll County, Virginia. It was a tragedy since we and other responsible organizations had offered to take this dog, who we came to learn was named Molly, into our care but the local government officials decided to kill her anyway with no explanation whatsoever.

As sometimes happens, this tragic event resulted in a bill being sponsored in the Virginia General Assembly. It is now called Molly’s Bill and its patron is Senator Bill Stanley, who has proven himself time and again to be a true and dedicated friend to animals in need. Senator Stanley recognized that it is unacceptable for public shelters to arbitrarily decide to end an innocent animal’s life when there are solid and reputable people or organizations willing and able to save that life.

Molly had killed a chicken but had never done any harm to a person or another animal. As I said in my June blog post about her story, “While none of us is comfortable with a dog killing a chicken or any other animal for that matter, anyone who has worked in animal welfare for long knows that this behavior is not uncommon for dogs and can happen easily if the dog is in a rural location and his guardians do not put in place measures to prevent the dog from free roaming. Such an occurrence does not mean that the dog will be aggressive toward people or toward other dogs.” That local bureaucrats went right ahead and killed Molly even though I and others were in frequent and direct communication with them pleading for her life and offering to take her out of their shelter immediately was horrifying.

Molly’s Bill would prevent public shelters from taking similar action to what was done to Molly. They would not be permitted to refuse to transfer or adopt a dog or cat to a Virginia resident or to an organization wanting to take that dog or cat into their care. It provides reasonable exceptions for dogs that have inflicted serious injury on a person or who otherwise fall under sections of the Virginia Code authorizing the euthanasia of the animal.

Molly’s Bill is Senate Bill 801 and I hope you will urge your Senator to vote in favor of it. This would be especially important for you to do promptly if your Senator serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee [find committee membership here] where it will be heard on Thursday afternoon. It will not be considered for a while in the House of Delegates assuming that we are able to get it through the Senate, which is where it is right now.

Your help on this bill could make a big difference for the next helpless dog or cat like Molly who could be saved from euthanasia by a responsible person or organization. It is too late for precious Molly but this bill that bears her name, if it becomes law, would prevent her death from having been in vain.

UPDATE: On Thursday, Jan. 19, SB 801 was reported out of the Senate Agriculture committee and referred to Finance. The bill is on the agenda for Senate Finance on Wednesday, Jan. 25. If your Senator serves on the finance committee, we urge you to call or email before the 9 a.m. meeting as a constituent who supports Molly's bill. Find the committee membership here. To find out your district and who your Senator is, visit http://whosmy.virginiageneralassembly.gov/ and enter the address where you are registered to vote.

Robin Robertson Starr is the chief executive officer of the Richmond SPCA. To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

January 11, 2017

I am the Virginia State Director for The Humane Society of the United States (The HSUS); I’m a Richmond native and I’ve been privileged to enjoy a long friendship with—and great admiration for—the Richmond SPCA. There is so much to value about the Richmond SPCA and its incredible team of professionals and volunteers: their life-saving work to transfer thousands of animals from municipal shelters each year; their dedication to providing necessary veterinary care and basic pet necessities to people of limited means; the work they do to educate children, pet owners, law enforcement and others about animals and how we should interact with them; their impressive humane training center, which helps so many people struggling with the challenges pets can bring; and—with enormous consequences for animals of all kinds in every Virginia community—their commitment to pursuing government action and legislative progress for animals. It’s this last commitment that I write about today, as we prepare for the Virginia General Assembly to convene downtown.

Supporting laws and regulations that protect animals should be a priority of every animal welfare organization, including shelters, rescue groups, and others; it is one for the Richmond SPCA and The HSUS because we understand that on both ends of the shelter experience, animals need additional protection. We can rescue them from danger, give them medical attention and care, and find for them a loving home, but we must also have a foundation of laws that protect the animals we’ve done so much to aid and that leads shelters to improve their outcomes and save more lives.

Consider just this one item, an illustration of the impact of our collaboration: in 2015, The HSUS and Richmond SPCA worked together to pursue a local ordinance in the City of Richmond to prohibit the use of the bull-hook, a cruel device resembling a fireplace poker that is used to manipulate elephants into performing tricks in the circus. Before the ordinance was considered for a vote, Ringling Bros. announced that it would phase-out the use of elephants in its traveling shows, attributing the decision to the barrage of local ordinances popping-up across the nation to protect elephants. Richmond’s historic bull-hook ordinance is only one example of a partnership that has shut down Virginia’s puppy mill industry, made dog fighting a felony, banned the sale of dogs and cats in parking lots and on roadsides, and prohibited cruel hunting practices.

This year, like every year, we will stand up to be the voices for Virginia’s animals at the General Assembly. I want to share with you some issues that are important to us.

We support Senate Bill (SB) 852 to stop the sale of puppy mill dogs in Virginia pet stores. Having shut down puppy mills in this state a decade ago, we have since been engaged in an ongoing campaign to stay one step ahead of pet stores that responded to the lack of local mills by shipping puppies half-way across the country from states with lax breeding laws. Puppy mills, which are horrible, large-scale breeding facilities, produce thousands of dogs to be sold to unsuspecting customers in pet stores. While fewer than 15 pet stores in Virginia sell puppies, almost all of those stores are acquiring dogs from the Midwest, where puppy mills are prevalent. This bill, sponsored by Senator Bill Stanley, will prohibit pet stores from acquiring puppy mill dogs through unlicensed dealers and will forbid them from purchasing puppies from breeders who have been cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for violations of the Animal Welfare Act, a basic standard of care.

We support Senate Joint Resolution 234 to establish a working group to study Virginia’s spay-neuter programs, their effectiveness, and the need for a statewide spay-neuter fund. Virginia has some established programs to support spay-neuter services, which we know are critical to controlling the pet population and the demands it places on local shelters. You can acquire an animal friendly license plate, the fee for which is intended to support spay-neuter programs, but where is that money going? The Richmond SPCA, for example, doesn’t benefit from those funds despite the large number of pets it serves at its Susan M. Markel Veterinary Hospital. We hope that the spay-neuter working group will follow the money, so to speak, as well as determine if additional sources of funds are necessary to meet the need for spay-neuter services in Virginia’s communities.

There are several other important issues this year: strengthening Virginia’s felony cruelty statute, restricting the tethering of dogs, protecting people with disabilities and the assistance animals they rely on, and ensuring that localities have the freedom to make decisions that best protect animals in their community. Like the Facebook pages for The Humane Society of the United States - Virginia and the Richmond SPCA to get updates throughout the session as these pieces of legislation progress.

These bills will only become law if you join us and make your voice heard. I hope that you will contact your state senator and delegate to say that you support these bills. Your opinion matters to them. You can be assured that opponents of this legislation will be calling to voice their opposition. You might also consider joining us for Humane Lobby Day on Thursday, January 19; you’ll get to meet animal welfare advocates from across Virginia and speak to your legislators in person about the issues important to you. You can register here.

Each year, The HSUS ranks states based on their animal welfare laws and regulations; this year, Virginia ranks fourth in the nation. This incredible framework of laws, developed over many years, has been made possible in part by the wonderful partnership of The HSUS and Richmond SPCA. But this is a rapidly growing movement to protect animals and its landscape is shifting; our status as a leader in this movement is never secure as other states catch-up to us in enthusiasm and progress. I hope you’ll join The HSUS and Richmond SPCA this year as we work to protect Virginia’s animals.

To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

February 23, 2016

If you have been following the General Assembly this year with the interest of animals in mind, you may recall that we have devoted a lot of time to explaining our opposition to HB 340. The bill originally introduced was a very bad piece of legislation that would have undone the private animal shelter definition we fought so hard to make law in 2015. However, things change at a rapid pace in the General Assembly, and late last week a compromise was reached. Proponents of the bill agreed at last to a substitute amendment that we had offered many weeks ago, and as a result we no longer oppose HB 340. The substitute was accepted in the Senate today and passed unanimously.

The focus is now on defeating HB 1270, which requires the State Veterinarian to create an animal care advisory committee. We have communicated to Senators our strong opposition as VDACS already has the authority to create such an advisory panel. Today's floor vote reflects that the majority of Senators agree with us that this bill is unnecessary. HB1270 was defeated 9-30. However, shortly after the floor vote, Senator Frank Wagner moved to have the bill reconsidered and passed by for the day, which means the bill is still in play. Another vote will be taken as soon as tomorrow.

Whether your Senator voted yea or nay, it is urgent that you contact his or her office before the bill is voted on for a second time. Find out who represents you in the Senate by visiting whosmy.virginiageneralassembly.gov.

Key messages:

The passage of HB 1270 will be used by PETA to stall the enforcement of the private animal shelter purpose to find permanent adoptive homes for animals.

VDACS already has authority to create an advisory panel, which it did from 2012-2014. That committee was ultimately ineffective due to the refusal of proponents of HB 1270 to agree to progressive policies and programming. Since the stakeholders are the same today, reaching consensus remains unlikely.

A better approach would be for the State Veterinarian to collect stakeholder input seperately and have VDACS compile feedback.

No votes on Feb. 23, 2016

The Senators listed below voted no today. Please thank your Senator and encourage him or her to maintain opposition to HB 1270 when it returns to the floor.

Thank you for your service in the Virginia General Assembly. I am a constituent of your district, living at [address], and I am writing to thank you for voting no today on HB 1270. As I understand that the bill is to be reconsidered, I respectfully ask that you maintain your opposition to HB 1270.

Sincerely,

[your name]

Yes votes on Feb. 23, 2016

The Senators listed below voted yes today. Please respectfully ask any Senator who voted for HB 1270 to reconsider and to vote no when this bill is voted on again.

As a constituent living in your district at [address], I am grateful for your service in the General Assembly and write to you today in regard to your vote on HB 1270. I respectfully ask that you reconsider and urge you to oppose this bill when it returns to the Senate floor for a second vote.

Sincerely,

[your name]

Tabitha Treloar is the director of communications for the Richmond SPCA. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires both your first and last name to be used as your screen name.

February 10, 2016

Yesterday afternoon the Virginia House of Delegates voted to pass HB 340. We have worked hard to counter misinformation about this bill, and animal advocates from around the state responded by contacting their representatives to the General Assembly and urging them to vote no. Although we were not successful in defeating HB 340 in the House, the final vote tally of 53-yea, 45-nay shows that many delegates have heard our concerns about this legislation. The bill directs VDACS to "establish the purposes of private animal shelters" via regulation after the General Assembly already established the singular purpose – adoption – by statute in 2015.

The following delegates opposed HB 340 today. They likely heard from many constituents leading up to the vote, and they deserve our gratitude. Please take a moment to send a note of thanks if your delegate voted no. If you're unsure of your delegate, you can enter your address here to confirm your district.

Following crossover next week on Feb. 16, the bill will be taken up by the Senate and will first go before the Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee. If you live in the district of a Senator serving on this committee, please contact him or her to urge opposition to HB 340 when it comes before the committee.

*Votes for Delegates Byron and Helsel were originally recorded as yea when they intended to vote nay.

Tabitha Frizzell Treloar is the director of communications for the Richmond SPCA. To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

February 08, 2016

Today we are sharing a guest post from the Virginia Federation of Humane Societies, the Commonwealth's leading statewide membership organization for animal shelters. Last week, Delegate Bobby Orrock, the patron of HB 340, published a short description of HB 340. Many of our supporters who have contacted their delegates to urge opposition of HB 340 have received replies that quote Delegate Orrock's statements about this legislation. We would like to give the VFHS the opportunity to convey crucial facts regarding each assertion in that description. The Richmond SPCA joins the VFHS in opposing HB 340 and asks that you contact your delegate to the General Assembly to urge him or her to vote NO on this bill.

Because HB 340 was passed by for second reading on Friday, Feb. 5, the second reading and debate on the House floor may occur today, Monday, Feb. 8. The bill's third reading and floor vote could happen as soon as Tuesday, Feb. 9. If you have not yet called or emailed your delegate, please do not delay in doing so. A sample message is available here.

MYTH 1: “Prior action in 2015 did not truly change the definition of a private animal shelter it simply rearranged the words in the previous definition."

FACT:SB 1381 placed the phrase “for the purpose of finding permanent adoptive homes for animals” at the beginning of the definition of “private animal shelter,” making clear that ALL private animal shelters must have the purpose to adopt. It most certainly did change the definition such that PETA could no longer kill nearly 90% of the dogs and cats it “shelters,” while all other private shelters in Virginia euthanize LESS THAN 10% of the dogs and cats they take in.

MYTH 2: “However, an attempt by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (oversees animal shelters) this past year to define 'purpose' did not allow public input or comment.

FACT: Regarding VDACS's draft guidance document that was disseminated in June of 2015, Dr. Richard Wilkes, the State Veterinarian with VDACS, sent an email to stakeholders saying:

“While SB 1381 will be enacted July 1 of this year, the final guidance document will not be implemented for some time. The delay in its implementation is due to the extensive review process and consideration of stakeholder feedback. VDACS has started the process of developing a draft guidance document and is soliciting stakeholder feedback on proposed inspection criteria. The final guidance document will be the product of internal review, stakeholder feedback, and OAG recommendations. VDACS will not take any action to enforce the change made by SB1381 until an appropriate time after a final guidance document is released.”

MYTH 3:“The amendment in the nature of a substitute for HB 340 directs the VDACS to enter into the regulatory process to determine ‘purpose’.”

FACT: The General Assembly has established by statute what the purpose of a private animal shelter is, and it does not rest with a regulatory agency to do so. The job of VDACS is to develop regulations in order to enforce the statutory purpose adopted by the General Assembly last year.

MYTH 4:“This process will allow for full public comment and participation, thereby ensuring transparency.”

FACT: The current amendment forces VDACS to consider a list of stipulations imposed by proponents of HB340 prior to seeking public comment and participation. VDACS was already allowing for full public comment and participation while working on the Draft Guidance Document. Current annual reporting and inspection requirements already ensure plenty of transparency on behalf of all releasing agencies, including private animal shelters. If VDACS needs more transparency and data, VDACS – with the benefit of public comment and participation – can have the flexibility to ask for additional information on a case-by-case basis.

MYTH 5: The current bill makes no change to the previous definition of “private animal shelter.”

FACT: The current bill threatens the current definition in two significant ways.

There is but one purpose of a private animal shelter and that purpose – adoption – was clearly established in 2015 by SB 1381.

​​Regulations to be adopted by the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services shall ensure that no private animal shelter shall be prohibited from operating as a private animal shelter solely on the basis of disposition outcomes in § 3.2-6548 of the Code of Virginia.”

This statement alone allows for an entity to be a private animal shelter and euthanize 100% of the animals it takes in. It benefits only one organization – PETA. VDACS should have the autonomy to determine what weight to give an organization’s self-reported disposition figures, and whether that is sufficient to determine if the organization operates with the purpose of adopting animals.

MYTH 6: Major stakeholders support HB340.

FACT:HB340 impacts Virginia’s private animal shelters. VFHS is the longest-standing organization that represents shelters, including shelters, rescues, animal control agencies, individuals – and the majority of Virginia’s private animal shelters – and we OPPOSE HB340. You can see our membership list on our website www.vfhs.org. VAAS, the proponent of this bill, does not speak for private animal shelters and does not publish a list of members. VVMA and VACA have signed a statement supporting HB340 purportedly due to a commitment to transparency; however, many individual veterinarians and animal control officers oppose HB340.

To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

February 04, 2016

HB 340 is headed to the floor of the House of Delegates and could be voted on as early as Monday. UPDATE: The bill was passed by for the day on Friday, meaning that the second reading and debate is likely to take place Monday, Feb. 8, and delaying the House vote to Tuesday, Feb. 9 at the earliest.

Now is the time that delegates need to hear from their constituents on this issue. When contacting your delegate, please note that you live in his or her district and provide your address. You can find out who your Delegate is here http://whosmy.virginiageneralassembly.gov/

When HB 340 was introduced, it would have allowed private shelters to be operated solely for the purpose of killing animals, effectively reversing last year's passage of SB 1381, which has been law since July 1, 2015. There is no political will to repeal SB 1381. Our legislators' memories are not so short to have forgotten that PETA is the one entity in Virginia that euthanizes 88 percent of the animals it is entrusted to "shelter."

The newest version of HB 340 is a substitute amendment that its proponents will tell you directs the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) to adopt regulations "for evaluating whether a private shelter is meeting its required purpose of finding adoptive homes for animals." However, what the bill says has a very different meaning:

The purpose of private animal shelters has already been established by the General Assembly: the purpose of private animal shelters is to find permanent adoptive homes for animals in the shelter's care. We would support a directive for VDACS to create reasonable regulations to determine whether private animal shelters are operated in a way that is consistent with the purpose to adopt. But the proposed legislation aims instead to delay and complicate enforcement of the private shelter adoption purpose with respect to PETA. What HB 340 will do is create an expensive, time-consuming process for the state, all to benefit a single organization, giving PETA license to kill thousands of animals unnecessarily every year.

Below is a sample email for contacting your delegates. Please borrow from any of this message that is useful in expressing your opposition in your own words. Encourage your delegate's staff to open your message with a subject line that identifies you as a constituent of his or her district.

Dear Delegate [NAME],

I am writing as a resident of your district, living at [address] to ask that you oppose HB 340 as amended.

The Commonwealth’s definition of a private animal shelter now matches the common-sense expectation that animal shelters would operate with the purpose of finding permanent adoptive homes for animals. However, HB 340 asks VDACS to "adopt regulations that establish the purposes of private animal shelters." Purpose is not established via regulation; the General Assembly has already defined the purpose of private shelters through legislation. HB 340 goes further to micromanage the process it calls for by forcing criteria unrelated to the adoption purpose into the regulations that VDACS must consider.